Tim Baechler sounded just about as thrilled as a Korean gymnast given a 9.6 for a parallel bar routine.
"Oh, great," said Canton High School's football coach, reacting to his team being dubbed the preason No. 1, according to the first 2004 Ann Arbor News coaches poll. Participating in this year's poll are Dexter's Tom Barbieri, Pioneer's Chuck White, South Lyon's Mark Thomas and Ypsilanti's Dan Brown.
Perhaps this verbal grimace deserves a little explanation. Baechler was on last year's panel for the poll. And though the Chiefs were nearly a wire-to-wire No. 1 team, Baechler never placed his team in the top spot once. Not even after Canton completed its first undefeated regular season in school history.
"Be careful what you wish for," he said. "You want to be there. But there's unwritten pressure also to stay there."
That said, Baechler is grateful that his program is getting recognized as a local powerhouse. Before Baechler took the job in 1999, Canton hadn't had more than five victories in a season since 1990 and had been to the playoffs only once. In the last four years, under Baechler, Canton has gone 37-9 and made the playoffs every year.
"It doesn't mean anything, but I'm flattered," he said. "The tough job is maintaining that."
Ah, yes. As in playing actual games. As in Friday's 7 p.m. season-opener, which pits Canton against Pioneer for the third year in a row.
But don't go out to Pioneer's Hollway Field thinking you'll see the same old Chiefs. For one thing, key players such as Devin Thomas, Travis McKinney and Franz Gatzke have graduated. For another, the team that stayed on the ground 92 percent of the time last season is slightly altering its three-yards-and-cloud-of-dust philosophy.
No, the ground below you hasn't just frozen over. But Baechler will be implementing a spread offense. With returning junior quarterback Shawn Little manning a backfield that also includes 1,000-yard rusher Chuck Schumacher at fullback and speedy 6-foot-5 Julian Smith at halfback, Canton has the talent to undergo the switch.
But also it's part of Baechler's evolution as a coach. Three years in a row, the Chiefs have been knocked out of the playoffs by Detroit Catholic Central, another subscriber to the three-yards-and-cloud-of-dust philosophy.
"We've got to have another answer," he said. "I'm convinced we can't beat Catholic Central at their own game."
Rob Hoffman can be reached at (734) 994-6814 or rhoffman@annarbornews.com